Opera on 3 | Gerald Barry’s The Importance of Being Earnest

Duration: 1'41'28''

Synopsis

Irish composer Gerald Barry's three-act opera based on the iconic Oscar Wilde play - 'a trivial comedy for serious people' - was premiered in Los Angeles last year, an occasion which the Los Angeles Times described as 'engagingly funny and mind-boggingly virtuosic'. In this performance, recorded last month in London's Barbican Hall, Thomas Ades conducts the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group.

Further Information
Other Archive resources
The Importance of Being Earnest | BBC Radio 4 | 2018

The Importance of Being Earnest (2018)

Two gentlemen friends use the same alias to pursue the women they love. Wilde's classic with Mathew Baynton and Gemma Jones.
The Importance of Being Earnest | BBC Radio 4 | 1995

The Importance of Being Earnest (1995)

Crafty friends Jack and Algernon are living a double life in London 1895. Starring Dame Judi Dench as Lady Bracknell, Martin Clunes as Algernon Moncrieff, Michael Sheen as Jack Worthing, Miriam Margolyes as Miss Prism, John Moffatt as Canon Chasuble and Michael Hordern as Lane.